After a long and heated debate, New York City turned out to be their best choice.  They were just outside the city at the moment, wandering around northern New Jersey.  A few of New Jersey's inhabitants had cried that it's not such a bad state, and had somehow convinced Hank and Alex to spend a day there.  Beside Alex on the sidewalk, Hank was adjusting his wide-brimmed hat and trench coat.

The younger mutant was going to make a comment about the winter coat being worn in July, but was interrupted by a heavy, metallic rumble.  Something that sounded akin to an explosion immediately followed.  "That sounded pretty close, Hank.  Let's go see what it was."

Hank looked like that was the last thing he wanted to do.  "Are you sure this is the best course of action, of fearless one?"

"Yes," he said simple.  Havok walked down the street, towards the noise.  Reluctantly, his companion followed.  Pedestrians were running in the opposite direction, but Alex was unperturbed.

Eventually, they reached the location of the destruction.  A looming robot stood, bending over to pick something up.  The pair of mutants saw a tiny figure running from the machine, giving them an idea as to how big it was.  "Hey, Tin Man!" shouted Havok, raising his hands.  "Welcome to the recycling center!"  A stream of plasma flowed from his hands, striking the machine with wave after wave.  One of its arms melted off at the shoulder as the attack stopped.

It stood up straight, and turned to face Havok.  / "Unknown mutants detected.  Stand by for apprehension.  Halt, Mutant." /

"So this is a Sentinel," said Alex, remembering a rumor Hank had told him.  "Beast," he said, addressing his friend by a nickname Hank did not bother being called.  "Help the Sentinel's other target.  I'll take care of it."  Beast leapt towards the person in distress, mumbling all the while.  Trusting in his friend's instincts to be enough protection, Havok turned his full attention to the robot.  It raised its arm, and prematurely fired an energy blast towards the mutant.

Because of the machine's mistake, Havok had just enough time to dash out of the way before the concrete became a crater.  He released his energy again, this time aiming hire.  The robotic monstrosity's head melted into slag.  The entire Sentinel fell to the ground, its CPU disintegrated.  Looking in the distance, he spotted Beast, and walked over.

A red-haired woman was shivering several feet from Hank, her skin awfully pale.  "Come on, we'd better get out of here.  As soon as the Mutant Registration Center finds out they've lost a Sentinel, they'll send three more.  Can you walk?"  The last he addressed to the woman, with a touch of concern in his voice.

She looked at Beast, then Havok.  Beast was a blue-furred, apelike monster, and Havok was a blond-haired man wearing jeans, a leather jacket, and gold arm guards.  She must have thought them an odd pair, but opted to go with them over Sentinels.  They walked briskly away from the scene of destruction, and made their way to New York City via taxi.  "Who are you?" she asked while they were inside the cab.

"People who don't like to anyone hurt," answered Havok.  "We're going to a hotel in the city; we can talk there."  He was silent the rest of the ride, and did not answer any more of her questions.  Hank caught the cue, and was quiet as well.

Havok was the one who paid the cab driver.  The woman went with them to the hotel room, feeling that they could protect her if and when the Sentinels found her again.  She's obviously a mutant, thought Alex as they went up to their room. And a danger to anyone around her, so long as there are Sentinels out there.  She needs to go somewhere safe … and a new identity, if that's back out in the world.  Besides being highly illegal, all those things were expensive.  He didn't have enough funds to help her anymore.  Alex just hoped that Hank had explained enough of the situation that she realized she wasn't being kidnapped.

He closed the door to their room after they were all inside.  Hank politely offered her a seat, which she took.  "I'm Havok.  That … thing you saw in Jersey was a Sentinel, a robot owned by the Mutant Registration Agency."  She blanched, but did not respond in any other way.  "Somebody's registered you as a mutant.  You're lucky we were around the corner when you were attacked, otherwise you'd be in a lot more trouble."

"Havok is getting ahead of himself," interrupted Beast.  "You need to calm down."  With one of his feet, he grabbed the remote control to the TV, and turned on Ghostbusters.  "Ah, the classics," he said reminiscently.

Alex laughed, tossing aside his jacket.  He plopped down on the couch.  "Like this flick?"  The woman nodded.  "It's one of my favorites.  Need anything to eat?  It's on Beast.  Don't worry about the money, he loves to buy things for women."

A chuckle escaped Beast as he turned to give Alex a mock-deadly look.  "Your ability to others their thoughts appears to be improving, oh fearless leader.  Not too bad, for someone who isn't psychic."

The woman looked at the two, and then sighed.  "No, thanks."

"She speaks!" shouted Hank, evoking a glare from Alex.

"Take your time," he said with a warm smile, turning to face the woman.  "But if you don't tell us your name soon, we're going to have to resort to calling you ma'am – and who wants that?"  He said it with dread and warning, but his smile overrode his tone.

"Angelica," she said, resignedly.  "Firestar, they call me."

"They?" asked Hank, with a word.

"The White Queen.  And others."

Even though she was reluctant to speak on the subject, Hank found himself prying.  "I'm ashamed to admit it, but I am unfamiliar with the tern 'White Queen'.  Except, of course, in reference to a chess board."

Angelica was quiet for a moment, while Venkman, Spengler, and Stantz caught the green ghost.  After the movie characters left the hotel, she spoke again.  "She runs a mutant school for the Hellfire Club."

"That seems harmless enough," said Hank, wondering who would name themselves after Hell.

"She teaches her students to become assassins."

Hank's jaw hit the floor, not quite literally.  "Oh my stars and garters."

"Is White Queen a mutant?" asked Alex.

"A telepath."

Alex laughed, awarding him two funny looks.  "What is it with telepaths and schools?" he asked.  When there was no answer, his expression became more serious.  "There's another school that teaches mutants, Angelica.  This one doesn't turn its students into killers, but helps them to integrate into society.  Beast and I can take you, if you like."

"Sorry, but I'm going to have to pass.  I'm not the kind of girl that follows two strange men everywhere they go, even if you did save my life."

"I can understand that," said Alex with a nod.  "At least take down the web address: www.xavier-institute.com."  It wasn't too hard to remember, but Alex jotted it down for her anyway, using one of the hotel's complimentary pens and pad.  "You're free to go whenever you want.  All that matters to me is that you end up someplace safe, but other than that, frankly, I don't care what you do."  They were not the most sympathetic or comforting words, he knew, but they were truth.

Angelica was completely lost.  She didn't understand Havok at all.  He would not trust her, which made her suspicious of him.  She wouldn't follow him because he refused to tell her anything about himself – if he would just behave more … human.  "Havok, you're a strange man.  You won't tell me who you really are, what you want, or who you work for.  What reason do I have to do anything you say?"

He smiled, knowing that she had a point.  "Hank, you take care of her.  I'm going to grab some pizza; what do you want on it?"

Hank grinned and answered without pausing to think.  "Pepperoni, meatball, ham, sausage, pineapple mushroom.  Twenty-one inch, nothing more meager, Havok."

"You got it," said Alex with a brief wave.  He was not a very good politician, but he had still acted abnormally.  He excused himself by claiming his mind was elsewhere, which was true.  It was hard to think about anything besides his brother and the X-Men, being so close to Westchester.  He was taking the scenic route to get the pizza, which included a detour to lower Manhattan.  Alex made his way to the docks so he could look over the water.  The Statue of Liberty stood alone in the distance.

Not too far from there, Alex knew, some international meeting was taking place.  They were there to discuss the Mutant Problem. I guess this is also where my mind's been these past few days.  Twelve million people probably felt the same way in the Thirties and Forties … Mutant Registration.  We're all going to die, aren't we?  His mind had no answer for the unspoken question.  Something wet splashed on his hand, and Alex realized that he was crying.

He tried to wipe his tears away with his sleeve, and remembered too late that his jacket was in the hotel.  The gold-colored armband rubbed against his face – cold, eternal reminders of his mutanthood.  Not one of us asked to be born different, yet here we are.  They're so afraid of us that they're going to try to wipe us out.  Genocide.  Please, let us live together in harmony, he prayed.  Don't let there be another World War II.

As he finished his thoughts, a mist rose over the bay.  Storm's brewing.  He watched with interest, trying to remember the morning's weather report.  Some time passed, and Alex thought he saw a bolt of lightning hit the base of the Statue of Liberty.  What are the odds of that happening?  When the large, white sphere appeared around the Statue, Alex knew that it wasn't random chance.  The X-Men are there.  The sphere grew and grew, threatening to reach Manhattan.  Suddenly, it vanished, the night to seeming darker than ever.  It looks like Scott's gals won.  Two points for the Boy Scout.  This time he saw the Blackbird, and it was headed towards Westchester. 

Pizza time, he thought optimistically, having decided what to do.